Donald Trump didn’t see this coming. This accusation has him completely flabbergasted.
And a former CNN host just accused President Trump of planning this heinous crime.
Two prominent former cable news anchors, known for their critiques of former President Donald Trump, have recently voiced concerns that the 2026 midterm elections may not be conducted fairly. Jim Acosta, previously with CNN, and Joy Reid, formerly of MSNBC, have now raised alarms about potential election rigging by Trump and his allies.
Joy Reid, speaking on Leftist writer Wajahat Ali’s Substack, expressed deep skepticism about the integrity of the upcoming midterms. “I don’t think Trump intends to leave office,” Reid told Ali. “I’ve been very clear about that. I think he intends to stay in office like Putin till he dies.”
She further questioned the assumption of normal electoral processes, stating, “Whenever Democrats say to me, ‘this is the reason we have to coalesce for 2026,’ I always add to the end of their sentence, ‘Yeah, assuming we actually have free and fair elections.’”
Reid went on to call such assumptions “insane,” pointing to the behavior of House Republicans who backed Trump’s legislation, the “big, beautiful bill,” which she dismissed as a “bulls–t bill.” She suggested their support implies a lack of concern about re-election, hinting at a deeper scheme.
“The way Trump is behaving, he’s not acting like somebody who worries that his party will lose power or that even if somehow we had normal elections and Democrats took control of either the House or the Senate, he’s not acting like somebody who’s worried about the consequences of that,” she stated.
🚨NEW: Joy Reid floats *paranoid conspiracy theories* about rigged 2026 midterms and Trump's plans to stay in power for life🚨
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) July 6, 2025
"I think it's insane, honestly, to just assume we're going to have normal elections next year. I don't assume that."
"[Republicans are] not actually… pic.twitter.com/ttdDL2Hk71
Similarly, Jim Acosta, during a conversation with Democratic strategist James Carville on his Substack show, pondered whether Trump or his adviser Stephen Miller could manipulate the 2026 midterms. When a viewer asked if they believed Trump would end up “tampering” with the votes, Carville responded decisively, “In the short word, yes,” and elaborated, “In the longer words, very.”
He added, “I don’t put anything past him — nothing — to try to call the election off, to do anything he can.” Acosta interjected, saying, “This is scary s–t.”
These claims come in the wake of both anchors’ departures from their networks. Reid was abruptly let go by MSNBC in February, having previously stated in 2022 that only Democrats accept election losses gracefully.
Acosta, who left CNN in January after being reassigned to a midnight slot, once derided Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims as “the big cry.”
The speculation isn’t limited to Reid and Acosta. Recently, former CNN host Don Lemon entertained comedian Kathy Griffin’s assertion that the 2024 election was compromised.
“I’m Kathy Griffin and I do not think Trump won in a free and fair election,” Griffin declared. “I believe there was tampering. I don’t know if it was the Elon [Musk] connection. I don’t know if it was just a few good old boys in the South who didn’t do, you know, I mean what they accuse us of.”
Lemon responded, “You’re not far off,” adding, “I mean I won’t say that I disagree with you… But I’m an evidence person. I’d like to see the evidence. I think something was off, and especially when someone said, ‘oh, we’ve got this.’ And, you know, how do you know that? How do we know we’ve got this? How do you know, or ‘I don’t need your vote’ or anything like that. It’s a little bit odd.”
A White House spokesman, responding to these allegations, told Fox News Digital, “President Trump has taken more action to restore the integrity of our elections on behalf of the American people than any president in modern history.”
“According to the Democrats, voter fraud doesn’t exist – but clearly they are already searching for copouts preparing to lose big again in the midterms.”
Historical context shows the volatility of midterm elections. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, Democrats regained control of the House, ending GOP dominance since the 2010 Tea Party wave. In 2022, despite President Joe Biden’s Democrats outperforming expectations, they still lost the House to Republicans.
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
